This invention relates to the forming of a shallow ditch and laying paper therein, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for forming a shallow ditch in wood shavings in a chicken feed house and dispensing paper into the ditch so that chicken feed may be dispersed onto the paper for small chicks to eat.
Modern chicken houses have automated feed troughs which are disposed above the floor in the house, the floor being covered with wood shavings. The system is such that feed is automatically dispensed into the troughs as the feed is consumed. The automatic system is only operable when the troughs are above the ground since the chicks could be endangered when the system is operable while on the ground and chicks could be within the troughs. Additionally, since the floors may not be level, if the feed is dispensed while the troughs are at ground level, feed could overflow onto the floor. However, during the first week of a chick's life, it is too small to reach into the trough to feed. Moreover, if all the chicks congregate at the troughs they can crowd each other to the point where some may suffocate. For these reasons chicken farmers dig a shallow ditch in the wood shavings, lay paper in the ditch, and dispense the feed onto the paper. The chicks can then feed off the paper until they become large enough to eat directly out of the trough. At that time the troughs are raised and the system is automated. In the prior art, the ditch is manually dug generally for a portion of the length at both sides of the chicken house and across the house at one end and at a location intermediate the ends. Because these chicken houses can be in the order of 400 to 500 feet long or more, even when the ditch extends half the length of the house, the digging of the ditch and the manual laying of the paper into the ditch can be time consuming, especially considering the fact that most chicken farmers have a number of such feed houses. The feed house is, of course, temporarily decommissioned for feeding the chicks during that time.